


Kiss the Boy

by SamJoinedtheReconCorps



Category: Free!
Genre: Cuties, Fluff, Jellyfish, M/M, aquarium, going to the, kisses and hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-19 08:17:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2381279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamJoinedtheReconCorps/pseuds/SamJoinedtheReconCorps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei decides to take Nagisa to the aquarium and have a nice fun day out. As a friend. On a totally nondate. However, throughout the day things change for the better and maybe this nondate might turn out to be something much, much better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kiss the Boy

**Author's Note:**

> So I was inspired to write this when I went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium a couple of weeks ago, and whilst in the fic I say this is the Toba Aquarium I'm actually describing Monterrey Aquarium. I hope you guys like this little Reigisa fluff story! 
> 
> Looks like the boy too shy  
> Ain't gonna kiss the boy!
> 
> Thanks again to heicchous for helping me come up with the title!

                “Rei-chan?” Nagisa mumbled still half asleep, rubbing at his eyes, blonde hair askew as he opened the front door in his pajamas, “I thought you were coming over later to play video games?”

                “I thought we could go out and do something fun,” Rei said, fixing his glasses into place.

                “Like whaaaaaat?” Nagisa yawned, drawing out his question. He stepped back from the front door and motioned for Rei to come inside the house.

                Rei didn’t move from his place at the door, instead opting to begin fiddling with his bag’s strap a little nervously before he pitched his idea to Nagisa. “We could maybe go to the aquarium?”

                “Really?” Nagisa asked excitedly, his previous sleepiness gone. The prospect of spending the day at the aquarium with Rei seemed like tons of fun.

                “Yeah,” Rei smiled, relieved that Nagisa had accepted to go out with him. _As a friend, to the aquarium,_ he reminded himself. “They just opened up a few new exhibits and I thought it’d be fun to go.”

                “Of course it’d be fun!” Nagisa grinned, running upstairs and past his sister, “Just let me get dressed!”

                “You’re here early, Rei,” Hiro, Nagisa’s sister, yawned, coming down the last few steps rubbing at her stomach sleepily.

                “It’s only seven,” Rei responded.

                “’It’s only seven,’” Hiro mimicked, “On a Saturday! Can you even hear yourself, Rei? Are you really just that excited about seeing my little brother?”

                The blush that painted Rei’s face was answer enough for her.

                “Rei, you really are hopeless,” she smirked, wandering into the kitchen down the hall.

              Nagisa’s voice carried down the stairwell as he called out to Rei, “I’ll just grab something to eat and then we can go!” Rei only hummed in response as Nagisa dashed down the stairs and reappeared at the front door minutes later with his bag and a Tupperware container filled with brownies.

                “Thanks Hiro!” he mumbled around a mouthful of brownie.

                “You’re welcome,” Hiro replied, poking her head out from the kitchen, “Have fun!”

                They waved good bye to Hiro and began making their way to the train station to catch the 7:26 train to Toba.

                “Want one?”

                Rei glanced over and saw Nagisa offering him a brownie from the batch Hiro had packed for him, but Rei politely declined. “No thank you. I ate breakfast before I came to get you.” Which was a lie. He hadn’t even been able to choke down a glass of milk from how nervous he’d been before coming over to Nagisa’s – today was the first day that _Rei_ had invited Nagisa out. It was always Nagisa inviting Rei places, but ever since Rei had begun _feeling_ a bit more strongly towards the short blonde, the prospect of asking Nagisa out, even if it were only to hang out as friends at the aquarium, made his stomach flutter.

                Nagisa had lapsed into momentary silence as he munched his brownie before asking, “Are Mako-chan and Haru-chan coming with us?”

                Coming out of his reflection about his feelings, Rei shook his head, “I called Makoto-senpai before I arrived at your house to ask him if they would like to accompany us, but he said that Haruka-senpai was feeling sick.”

                “Is Haru-chan okay?” Nagisa asked, brow furrowed uncharacteristically with worry.

                “I would assume so since Makoto-senpai is taking care of him,” Rei answered. He thought back to the phone call he’d been a little reluctant to make. It wasn’t because he didn’t like or want to be around Makoto and Haruka-senpai; it was because he just wanted to spend his day with Nagisa. However, he’d ended up making the call out of affection for his friends.

                _“Hello? Rei?” Makoto answered after the second ring._

_“Makoto-senpai, I was wondering if maybe you and Haruka-senpai would like to come to the aquarium with Nagisa-kun and me. I’m sorry if I woke you up.”_

_There was a slight rustling on Makoto’s end, “Don’t worry, Rei. You didn’t wake me up. And, ah, Rei, that sounds like a lot of fun but,” more rustling, “Haru’s sick.”_

_“Is it bad? Is Haruka-senpai very ill?” Rei asked worriedly._

_“No, no, he’s okay,” Makoto reassured. “He began feeling sick yesterday night and then got feverish and started throwing up,” Makoto sighed, sounding exhausted, “I got really scared when he started having some difficulty swallowing and his breathing was labored, but he’s okay now. He’s not throwing up anymore and his fever’s gone down. He’s still pretty beat up though.”_

_“It’s good that he’s getting better,” Rei sighed, feeling the worry that had begun to bubble and grow over Haru’s health ebb away with Makoto’s reassurance._

_“Yeah, so just go have fun with Nagisa.” Makoto could practically be heard smiling as he added, “I think you two would have more fun without us anyway.”_

_“What?” Rei asked, not sure if he’d heard that last part correctly._

_“Nothing, nothing, Rei. Just have fun,” Makoto replied, wrapping up the conversation, “See you Monday.”_

_“Okay, see you Monday. I hope Haruka-senpai gets better.”_

_“Same. Bye.”_

_“Bye.”_

                And that was how it’d been.

                Nagisa and Rei had gotten to the Iwatobi train station and were waiting for the train that would take them to Toba. It would take a little over 3 hours to get to the aquarium, which meant that Rei and Nagisa would have plenty of time to kill.

* * *

 

                After they got off the train and after a 10 minute walk, they were within view of the Toba Aquarium.

                “We’re finally here!” Nagisa exclaimed, bouncing towards the ticket line.

                “Nagisa-kun?” Nagisa turned back towards Rei and laughed when he saw the two ticket stubs in Rei’s hands. “I bought them online before I left my house – I had bought four, but since Makoto and Haruka-senpai said they weren’t coming, I have two left over.” He handed the tickets to the woman manning the front door, who smiled and admitted them in after giving them a map of the aquarium. “It’s a good thing these tickets aren’t date specific, so they probably won’t go to waste,” Rei finished, but he noticed Nagisa wasn’t even paying any attention to him anymore.

                He was staring at the giant metal orca whale suspended from the ceiling, completely in awe of the sight. Getting up early, the long train ride, the walk to the aquarium – it was all worth it at that moment. It was all worth it just to see that smile on Nagisa’s face.

                Rei smiled softly and ruffled Nagisa’s hair affectionately, “Where do you want to go first?”

* * *

 

              “The otters were so cute!” Nagisa beamed, “They were just adorable swimming around and playing with their toys!”

                “It’s a good thing we got here early and managed to see them when they got fed,” Rei said, reflexively fixing his glasses, “I’m glad we were close to the glass, I was able to take some good pictures.”

              They continued walking down the hall, observing the fish and octopi when a crowd of people caught their attention.

                “I wonder what’s going on,” Rei mused, with a curious Nagisa in tow. Everyone was tightly packed around the exhibit, making it hard to see what was in it. Rei craned his neck until he was finally able to spot the flightless black and white birds everyone was watching.

                “What is it Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked, pulling on his jacket sleeve.

                “They’re penguins I believe,” Rei answered, turning to look at Nagisa, “I couldn’t get a good look though.”

                “Penguins? Really?” Nagisa began hopping in his place excitedly, trying to catch a glimpse of his favorite animal. When he saw it was useless, he ran to both extremes of the crowd with Rei, trying to see if they could find a break in the crowd in which they could squeeze through, but none were present. Nagisa looked slightly put out, fearing that he might not be able to see the penguins.

                Rei scanned the crowd one last time, trying to see if maybe they’d missed a spot. He found nothing, but he did see a black haired teen carrying a small child on his shoulders so that the child could see the exhibit.

                Maybe there was a way for Nagisa to see the penguins after all.

                “Nagisa-kun, get on my back.”                       

                “What?” Nagisa asked, not sure he’d heard Rei right.

                “Get on my back,” Rei repeated. “Maybe you’ll be able to see the penguins.”

                “Okay!” Nagisa exclaimed, ready to hop on, but he thought better of it. He knew Rei wasn’t too fond of rough housing, and so the whole get-on-my-back thing was slightly uncharacteristic of Rei. “Rei-chan, are you sure?”

                Rei nodded, turning his back to Nagisa and bending his knees a little to make it easier for Nagisa to climb on. Nagisa complied; jumping onto Rei’s back, wrapping his arms around his neck and gripping onto Rei’s hips with his legs. Rei held Nagisa steady with his arms underneath Nagisa’s legs. He hitched him up a little higher so that he would be able to see above everyone’s heads.

                “Can you see?” Rei asked, craning his neck to see Nagisa’s facial expression.

                Nagisa was positively beaming. “Yeah, they’re running around and sliding on their tummies.” He glanced down at Rei as he reached into his pocket for his cell phone, “I can take some pictures so that you can see them later.” He began snapping pictures and taking some videos before he slid off Rei’s back.

                “You don’t want to see them anymore?” Rei was a little puzzled as to why Nagisa would stop watching the penguins so soon.

                “It’s okay, I already got pictures of them,” Nagisa grinned, “I can see them any time I want to now.” He handed his phone to Rei so that he could see the pictures.

                “The crowd was probably there because of the baby chicks,” Rei mused, scrolling through the pictures and watching the videos.

                “Well they were cute!” Nagisa affirmed. He then quietly added, “And Rei-chan?” Rei turned to Nagisa. “Thanks for helping me see the penguins.”

                “N-no problem,” Rei replied, a slight blush beginning to tint his cheeks. He didn’t notice however that Nagisa’s cheeks were colored the same shade of pink.

                They walked in comfortable silence for a while until they reached one of the specialized exhibits – the jellyfish exhibit. They descended a flight of stairs and came to the entrance, walking down a bright pink corridor before entering darker rooms in which the jellyfish were displayed. It was extremely dark – the only light was coming from the tanks in which the jellyfish lazily swam in. The water seemed hyper-blue, greatly contrasting with some of the light orange jellyfish. Even though the jellyfish didn’t do anything too exciting, Nagisa and Rei were mesmerized by their hypnotic and delicate movement through the water.

                “This is…amazing,” Rei breathed, watching some medusa jellies drift along in their tank.

                “Mm-hmm,” Nagisa hummed beside him, equally in awe of their beauty.

                “There’s so many to see…” Rei whispered, looking around and seeing a path leading them into another room of the exhibit. “C’mon,” he said, already moving towards the path.

                “Wait! Rei-chan!” Nagisa exclaimed, outstretching his hand into the darkness in which Rei had disappeared and blindly groping around until he grabbed the back of Rei’s shirt. “Don’t leave me behind,” he whimpered, “you know I don’t like being alone…and even worse in the dark.”

                “I’m sorry, Nagisa-kun. I promise I’ll stay right beside you, okay?” Rei assured. Rei suddenly felt a questing hand reach for his own and twine their fingers together.

                “Do you mind if we hold hands, Rei-chan?” Nagisa nervously asked, squeezing Rei’s hand a little, “I just don’t want to lose you.”

                “It’s – It’s okay. Yeah, Nagisa-kun, you can hold my hand,” Rei stuttered out, feeling as if his heartbeat had doubled in speed before returning to its steady heartbeat.

                Nagisa was also similarly flustered, however neither could tell in such a dark setting.

                They continued down further, going down the dark hallway.

                “Oh!” Nagisa exhaled in awe, looking up at the ceiling, “Look at the lights!”

                Sure enough, the ceiling lights were hanging jellyfish lanterns. Their light was soft and made the two feel serene and oddly close to one another. Rei had absentmindedly begun to rub circles with his thumb on the back of Nagisa’s hand, and Nagisa hadn’t even reacted, feeling as if this were a common occurrence between them.

                “These really do help with the ambience,” Rei remarked, following Nagisa to one of the jellyfish tanks.

                They started observing the jellyfish, stopping and watching them drift in the soft half-light of the jellyfish lanterns. Nagisa couldn’t stop watching the jellyfish – they were just so amazing. And Rei couldn’t stop glancing at Nagisa. At the way his eyes lit up with wonder and the way his lips were always curled up at the edges in the cutest smile. Rei would only sneak sideways glances at Nagisa to catch the look of unabashed awe that graced his features every few minutes.

                 Nagisa did catch him peeking once though; it had been quick, just a slight flick of his eyes. He’d caught Rei’s eye and had begun to furiously blush, nervous that maybe Rei had thought Nagisa was trying to peek at him – which was exactly what he’d been doing. It was always a little hard to see Rei smile so freely. He used to be so serious, only smiling and laughing when talking about science and math. But when Nagisa had found out about his weakness for beauty, he knew he’d be seeing that smile all the more often. Which was what he’d looked forward to the most on today’s trip – seeing Rei happy. He was glad that Rei was a lot more carefree around him too, which definitely showed a lot when they were on their own. Today was just perfect for Nagisa.

                 They kept on walking, going down another hallway that seemed to extend to the outside.

                “Is it already nighttime?” Nagisa asked confused.

                Rei pulled out his cell phone, “It’s only three o’clock.” He was just as confused as Nagisa.

                It was dark, pitch black, except for the twinkling stars in the sky. It was an exceptionally pretty, unobstructed view of the stars. However, the stars seemed to moving around, growing dimmer before glowing back to their original brilliance in another position.

               “Nagisa-kun,” Rei breathed, “those aren’t stars.”

              The implication of Rei’s words made Nagisa gasp, “They’re jellyfish!”

              The tiny jellyfish were actually sparkling. The room was dome shaped, and made completely out of glass, with the tiny jellies floating all around them. It gave the illusion of being out at night; it gave them the same sense of tranquility as looking out at a clear night sky. They were quiet for a while, just admiring their surrounding and basking in each other’s company.

              “Rei-chan?” Nagisa said. Rei looked over at Nagisa and could swear he felt Nagisa squeeze his hand a little harder. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

              “Not as beautiful as you,” Rei whispered without a second thought.

              They froze; Rei in utter fear at what he’d just admitted to out loud and Nagisa in pure disbelief.

              Rei could feel one thousand excuses and explanations sprouting on his lips but they all died before he could say them when he heard Nagisa say, “You’re beautiful, too.”

             The room grew completely dark as all the jellyfish seemed to grow dim at once.

             And suddenly Rei could feel Nagisa’s lips on his own.

            It was as if some inexplicable force had drawn them to each other after their confessions – and the darkness of room had only helped them express themselves without hiding anything.

            Nagisa’s hands were at Rei’s chest and Rei had his resting on Nagisa’s sides, holding him steady. Rei could feel his heart practically stop; Nagisa felt as if he’d just been struck by lightning. The kiss was – unexpectedly beautiful. However, it was a short, chaste kiss, one that they both pulled away from all too quickly.

            Putting a hand to his face Nagisa backpedaled, stuttering out apologizes, “Rei-chan, I’m so sorry I wasn’t thinking and I –“

            Rei began throwing out apologizes as well, blushing furiously, “Nagisa-kun, I wasn’t thinking straight – I-I shouldn’t have done that – “

           “Rei-chan I’m sorry it’s just that when I’m with you all I want to do is hold your hand and hug you and it’s because– “

          “Nagisa-kun it’s just that I can’t stop thinking about you all the time I feel like you snuck your way into my heart and I feel like – “

          “I really like you.”

         They’d both said it at the same exact time. Then they just stared at each other in confusion from opposite ends of the room, not really believing what they’d just heard.

          “Rei-chan,” Nagisa began tremulously, feeling as if he could finally trust his voice, “you like me?”

         Feeling as if he had nothing to hide, Rei just openly admitted it, “Yeah.” He took a deep breath, “Yes, Nagisa-kun, I do. I like you so much that I can’t stop thinking about you. About your smile, your fun personality, those magenta eyes that make me want to fall for you all over again. All I ever want to do is be with you – that’s why I asked you to come with me today, because I wanted us to go somewhere nice together and have a fun time…”

         “So today was…a date?” Nagisa asked, beginning to smile a little.

         “Only if you want to call it that,” Rei answered.

         Nagisa began making his way towards Rei, “Do you want to call it that, Rei-chan?”

         “I would love to,” Rei replied, slowly walking to meet Nagisa half-way.

         “Then it’s a date, Rei-chan!” Nagisa grinned, running the last few steps and throwing himself into Rei’s arms.

         Rei caught him with ease before asking a question of his own, “Do you like me too?”

        Nagisa looked up at him and smiled, “Who wouldn’t like such a smart guy like you, Rei-chan? What with your super cute glasses and pretty purple eyes.”

        “That doesn’t necessarily answer my question,” Rei commented, feeling the blush creep back on his face from Nagisa’s compliments.

        “Oh, Rei-chan! Of course I like you!” Nagisa assured.

        However, Rei’s questions weren’t finished. “Um, Nagisa-kun?” Nagisa bid Rei continue with a slight squeeze of his arm. Rei turned so that he could be face to face with Nagisa, “How would you, um, like to be my boyfriend?”

        “Rei-chan!” Nagisa cried, “I would love to be your boyfriend! Yes! Yes, I’ll be your boyfriend, Rei-chan, you didn’t even have to ask!” He wrapped his arms around Rei’s neck and brought him down for another kiss. Rei’s arms were around Nagisa, holding him steady as the shorter boy stood on his tippy toes. This kiss was longer and a little more passionate, trying to relay all of their pent up feelings for each other through this contact. But, best of all, it held the promise of many more kisses to come.

         Feeling lightheaded, they pulled away moments later. “How about we go down to the pier after this?” Rei asked a little breathlessly from the kiss, taking a hold of Nagisa’s hand again.

        “Okay, Rei-chan,” Nagisa smiled, following Rei out of the room full of twinkling jellyfish. “You said you had two leftover tickets, right?” Nagisa asked.

        “Yeah,” Rei answered.

        “Would you mind if we came again?” Nagisa smiled, a hopeful look in his eyes.

        “I wouldn’t mind at all if I’m with you,” Rei replied, blushing slightly from not being used to flirting so openly with Nagisa.

        “Ah, Rei-chan! You’re so cute when you’re blushing!” Nagisa giggled.

       “It’s not my fault that you do this to me,” Rei grinned back, walking hand in hand with his boyfriend to see the last few exhibits they hadn’t seen yet.

 

* * *

       “Eh-Nagisa-“ Rei looked down at his shoulder startled by Nagisa leaning on him so suddenly. He had fallen asleep, having been tired out due to the day’s events and lulled to sleep by the train’s movement.

       It was about 9:30pm, and they’d been on the train since 7 and were to be on it for about another hour, so it wasn’t too big a surprise that Nagisa had fallen asleep. Rei couldn’t say he wasn’t used to a sleeping Nagisa on his shoulder, since more often than not Nagisa fell asleep on the train ride home after practice, so this wasn’t anything new. However, Rei hadn’t ever been able to hold his hand while he slept or lean his head onto Nagisa’s before – perks of being a boyfriend probably.

       Rei kissed the top of Nagisa’s head affectionately before settling down beside him to sleep a little too and setting his phone’s alarm to ring ten minutes before they reached their stop so that they’d wake up in time.

       Just as he was falling asleep, Rei whispered, “I love you, Nagisa-kun.”

      He did manage to catch the next Nagisa’s next words.

      “I love you too, Rei-chan,” Nagisa sleepily answered, snuggling up a little closer to his boyfriend before they both fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> And Nagisa and Rei slept right through the Rei's alarm and woke up three stops over so they called Haru and Makoto to come pic them up. But Haru and Makoto slept right through their phone call since they'd gotten no sleep at all the night before. So in the end Nitori and Rin had to come a pick them up.
> 
> But that's a story for another day.
> 
> But, I mean, can't you imagine like a bunch of people just waiting in the hallway outside the twinkling jellyfish room, just waiting to see how it'd play out? Idk, that's what I can imagine.
> 
> I hope you guys liked the story!


End file.
